Keith Haring (1958-1990)

As New Yorker artist Keith Haring has developed his own artistic universe and his linear, black-bordered characters are now world-famous. The artist's first exhibition venue was the New York underground, far from the official galleries, it was there that he drew his first long, slender figures in white chalk, painted quickly, almost automatically, instinctively. Keith Haring's graffiti, with its synthetic lines and bright colours, is falsely simplistic and the artist, very committed, uses his art to reach out to the general public and defend causes that are dear to him, such as the fight for LGBT rights or against racism. Keith Haring died young of AIDS at the age of 31. He left a strong legacy and inspired many artists.